Around eight years since the judgment of the Supreme Court of India, in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd) vs Union Of India, upholding the fundamental right to privacy, the state of privacy law in India remains in limbo. Despite the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA) having been notified in August 2023, its provisions remain inoperative … Read more
On January 6, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposed draft guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to assess the safety and effectiveness of drugs. The influential body has said that in the last decade, the number of submissions from drugmakers that include an AI or machine-learning component has seen an exponential … Read more
For representative purposes. | Photo Credit: Getty Images The story so far: The Supreme Court is hearing petitions filed by Ashwin Upadhyay and others, seeking a life time ban on convicted persons from contesting elections. What are the legal provisions? Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (RP Act, 1951), provides for … Read more
For representative purposes. | Photo Credit: iStockphoto The story so far: For the sixth consecutive day, BSE Sensex closed lower on Wednesday reflective of a major sell-off among foreign institutional investors and portfolio investors (FIIs/FPIs), mixed earnings and apprehensions about the tightening of the (imports’) tariff regime in the U.S. The thirty-share BSE shed 122.52 … Read more
Years ago, when I asked a classmate what she was reading, she simply replied, “A book from the northeast.” It was a lazy, unhelpful description. Ever heard anyone say they are reading Jerry Pinto, a “writer from the west”? That was in 2010, but little has changed since. The northeast is still described in many … Read more
A molecular biologist from Madurai, our quizmaster enjoys trivia and music, and is working on a rock ballad called ‘Coffee is a Drink, Kaapi is an Emotion’. @bertyashley Quiz | Easy like Sunday morning: Popular phrases 1 / 10 | On February 16 in 600 AD, Pope Gregory the Great passed a decree. It declared … Read more
As a city grows, so do its problems. In the years 2022 and 2024 Bengaluru witnessed some of the worst floods in its history, whereas 2023 was a year of drought. The latest TomTom traffic index has rated the city’s traffic as the third slowest in the world. Plumes of dust from construction debris, potholes … Read more
A marijuana leaf on a plant. File photograph | Photo Credit: AP A team of researchers from Bengaluru-based NIMHANS have developed ‘Pre-CURB’, a digital learning resource for young people on preventing cannabis use and promoting responsible behaviour. This digital resource, released at a workshop conducted for college students by the Departments of Nursing and Mental … Read more
Prince Karim Al-Hussaini Aga Khan in Cairo | Photo Credit: Getty Images “The Imam is dead, long live the Imam!” With these words, Prince Aly Khan, the man who would have been Imam, embraced his son, the 20-year-old Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, and solemnly acknowledged his ascension as the spiritual heir and leader of the Nizari … Read more
In the summer of 2018, I hailed a cab from Midtown Manhattan to Harlem’s Upper West Side with a friend. As we settled in, Punjabi music filled the car. My Texas-born friend, assuming the driver was from South Asia, asked if I understood the lyrics. After a brief hesitation, I replied, “Yes, but not all … Read more